Libre Tikim?

Online shopping has been part of the world of the internet for a while now. The range of products and services being offered online have increased so much, that it has become so vast and yet specific to cater to every person’s or even every company’s needs.

Websites like Amazon and Ebay have become a great success globally. While popular brands, like Apple, Gap, Topshop, and Old Navy, achieved in have expanded their reach through their online stores.

But one has to wonder, why is it that online shopping has not peaked in the Philippines yet?

Although websites like Tipidpc, Multiply, and Sulit have begun to reach out to the Filipino market, it seems that there are still several hurdles to the expansion of online shopping in the Philippines.

One of the difficulties is that it is part of the Filipino shopping experience to touch, feel, smell, or even taste what they have to buy, one thing that online shopping cannot provide. Shoppers in the “palengke” would go to the extent of stroking ("hinihimas") the fruits to even asking if "libre tikim?" Filipino buyers would never be content would just looking at the sample, they want to see, feel, smell and taste the actual things that they are buying.

But perhaps this dilemma is not as big in the IT industry, as there is no smelling, tasting, or fitting the products or services. Buying technology through technology seems to be so natural. That’s why the likes of Tipidpc have become successful in the Philippines.

It is exciting to find out how this Filipino habit could be addressed by online sellers or maybe how Filipinos will adapt to the changes in shopping technology.